The Worrier
by Ti Rhyse
Summary: How does Jack deal with being stuck in Washington, D.C. while Sam is in danger during seasons 9/10?  Assumes a Sam/Jack established relationship. "I've always been the one who caused the worry, not the worrier." -General Jack O'Neill, "The Shroud"
1. Prologue: Need

**Disclaimer:** Just borrowing them for a bit. I promise to give them back when I'm done (if I have to).

**Timing:** The weekend before "Beachhead"

**A/N:** This is the prologue for a series of short stories I plan to do on Jack's reactions to some of the events in seasons 9 and 10. I don't plan to do every episode but there are a few events in particular that have stuck out to me each time I've watched these seasons. They will deal almost entirely with times when Sam was in a tight spot and Jack was afraid he was going to lose her. Expect a combination of angst, fluff, and hurt/comfort. The title of the series was inspired by the following conversation from the episode "The Shroud."

_Jack: I've always been the one who caused the worry, not the worrier._

_General Landry: It's not easy; don't second guess yourself. This is the best possible course of action._

_Jack: Exactly! Action… good. Sitting around… bad._

**Prologue: Need**

By the time Sam arrived at Jack's Washington, D.C. apartment she knew something was wrong. Although he had greeted her with his normal bear hug at the airport, his cocky grin was absent and he was unusually quiet during the drive home. Jack normally spent most of the drive making jokes and doing his best to get her giggling. He may have given her grief about giggling when they were both on SG-1, but over the past few months it had become clear that he absolutely loved being the one to cause it. Tonight was different, however. Jack barely said two words during the trip; he simply entwined their fingers and stared out the front windshield with a pensive look on his face. Shutting the door behind them, Sam grabbed hold of his hand and led him towards the couch in his living room. Pulling him down beside her she turned to him.

"Jack, what's wrong?"

"Why don't I get us a beer? You hungry?" Jack responded, ignoring her question.

"Nice try." Sam admonished as she gripped his hand tighter refusing to let him rise from where he was sitting. "Talk to me, Jack. I know you well enough to know when something is bothering you. What's going on?"

"They need you…" Jack mumbled with a sigh.

"Who?"

"The SGC."

"We both knew that this was likely to happen eventually. You know as well as I do that there aren't many technical experts that also have my field experience." With the new threat that the Ori posed Sam wasn't surprised to hear that her time at Area 51 was coming to a close. She would always enjoy research and development, but she had been serious when she told Cam that if the world needed saving again she would be there. She just hadn't expected it to need saving again so soon.

"I know it was only a matter of time, and I agree with Landry that you're the best there is, but signing the orders that will send you back into harm's way was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you." Jack replied quietly.

As Jack spoke he reached out to brush Sam's hair behind her ear and gently caressed her cheek. She pressed a kiss into his palm in response and then nestled into his side resting her head on his chest. She didn't say a word, merely gave him a squeeze and waited for him to continue. Jack had never been good at expressing his feelings, and she had learned through the years that in the rare moments he opened up it was best not to interrupt.

"Somehow it was different when I was leading SG-1. No matter how bad things looked I took comfort in the fact that I was there to watch your back and you were there to watch mine. I felt like I could protect you when things went wrong, although I think you ended up doing most of the protecting." Jack was rewarded by a giggle from Sam for that statement, which brought a grin to his face momentarily. "Even when I was in command of the SGC I knew that if you were in trouble I could suit up and lead the rescue mission myself. Walter probably would have had a fit, but I would have done it anyway. Now I'm going to be stuck in boring meetings across the country worrying and feeling helpless because there's absolutely nothing I can do if something bad happens. I promised you I'd always be there for you, but now I'm afraid I won't be able to keep that promise. And honestly, Sam, that terrifies me; I'd rather face an entire goa'uld fleet than know you are in danger without being able to do a damn thing about it."

"You're wrong, Jack. You'll be able to always be able to help me no matter where you are." Sam finally replied as he pulled her even closer into his side.

"How do you figure that? I don't think being stuck at my desk in the pentagon will be much help to you if you're captured by the Ori."

"Remember when we were stranded in Antarctica?" Sam questioned turning her head and looking up so that she could see his face.

"I try not to." Jack grimaced.

"You told me about the time your parachute opened late."

"I try not to remember that either."

"You also told me that the only thing that got you out of that alive was Sarah. She gave you a reason to make it home. That's what you give me, Jack. No matter how far apart we are, or how much trouble I'm in, you'll give me a reason to fight to make it back. Knowing you love me will be enough." Sam finished by shifting so that she was face to face with Jack and brushing his lips with a kiss.

"I do love you, you know." Jack whispered pulling her into an embrace and nuzzling her neck.

"I love you too." Sam whispered into his shoulder in reply. They held each other like that for several minutes simply enjoying the comfort of each other's arms before Jack pulled back slightly.

"It's still not going to be easy for me." he complained.

"And when is anything we do ever easy?" Sam questioned giving him a slight smirk.

"You do have a point there." He chuckled starting to feel a little better. "You have to promise me you'll be careful though. The SGC may need you, but so do I."


	2. Chapter 1: Gone

**Disclaimer:** Just borrowing them for a bit. I promise to give them back when I'm done (if I have to).

**Timing:** During and after the season 9 episode "Ethon"

**A/N: **Thanks so much for all of the wonderful reviews and for subscribing to the story! I'll do my best to post new chapters regularly (I'm hoping for at least once a week, if not every few days), but I also want to make sure I don't rush too much trying to get new chapters out. The idea for this series has been floating around in my head for quite some time and I want to make sure I do it justice. Enjoy!

**Chapter 1: Gone**

Generals Jack O'Neill and Hank Landry were catching up over lunch in the Pentagon's commissary when Landry's phone began to ring. Glancing down at the caller ID, he sighed.

"Sorry, Jack; but I've got to take this one… it's Walter." Jack grinned in response. He'd been the recipient of many frantic calls from Walter during his time as CO of the SGC. His grin faded rapidly, however, as he listened in on Landry's side of the conversation.

"Landry."

"Slow down, Walter, and start over. You're not making any sense." Landry began to pale at the news he was receiving.

"Have you tried to contact them? It's possible they're bluffing."

"I see. I'll get back there as soon as I can. Let me know if you hear anything else." Jack could tell that something was seriously wrong. As Landry lowered his phone he didn't say a word; just stared into nothing as if he was struggling to come to terms with what he had just been told. Jack was thankful that he had spoken to Sam the morning before and learned that she wasn't scheduled for any missions this week. At least he didn't have to worry that something had happened to SG-1.

"What is it, Hank?"

"The Prometheus… it's gone." Landry mumbled; still in a daze.

"What do you mean gone?" Jack was confused. The last he had heard the Prometheus was conducting humanitarian missions on several former goa'uld planets and shouldn't be in any imminent danger. Landry took a deep breath before responding.

"The SGC was contacted by the leader of the Rand Protectorate on Tegalus. He claims that the Prometheus was destroyed. I hoped that they might be bluffing, but Walter has been trying to get in contact with Colonel Pendergast for the past half hour with no response. He wanted to be sure before contacting me. There's a small chance some of the crew managed to beam down to the planet, but based on the information we've received it appears that all hands were lost."

"How is that even possible? If I'm thinking of the right planet, they don't have anywhere near the level of technology needed to take on the Prometheus. And what was it doing there in the first place?" Jack was in denial. Although he didn't know many of the crewmembers personally, the thought of losing so many good men and women was gut wrenching.

"I was planning to brief you on the situation after our meeting with the Joint Chiefs this afternoon. We received some intel early yesterday suggesting that the Ori had provided the Rand Protectorate with plans for a sophisticated satellite weapons platform. The Prometheus was rerouted to investigate and had orders to destroy the satellite if our source proved to be correct. The plans provided to us indicated that the weapon would be an easy target; it seems that they were wrong." Landry explained. As Jack attempted to come to grips with the situation he noticed that his friend not only seemed upset, but anxious as well.

"Hank, there's something else isn't there?" Jack questioned as a feeling of dread began to grow in the pit of his stomach.

"There's no easy way to say this, Jack."

"Hank…" Jack was struggling to breathe; it felt like his chest was in a vice grip. She's safe on earth, she's safe on earth, she's safe on earth he began repeating in his head offering a silent prayer that, that was true. Deep down he was terrified that it wasn't.

"SG-1 was on the Prometheus. I'm sorry, Jack." Jack's eyes closed as he felt his world crumble around him. Sam, the love of his life, was gone.

_SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1_

_Later that evening…_

It was nearly 21:00 and Jack was still in his Pentagon office. He dreaded the thought of returning home; his small apartment held too many memories of the many weekends he and Sam had spent together enjoying their new relationship. Somehow he had managed to hold himself together long enough to brief the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but upon finally making it back to his office he broke down completely. Initially Jack had wanted to return to the SGC with Landry, but Hank had finally convinced him to stay in D.C.; making him realize that there was nothing either of them could do to help the situation no matter their location. Instead he had his secretary cancel the rest of his meetings and hold all calls unless they were from the SGC, and he had collapsed against the walls of one corner of the office, silent tears streaming down his face. He didn't even bother to turn on the lights.

Jack didn't want to accept that Sam was gone. Throughout the years SG-1 had become invincible in his eyes. Sure they frequently got in trouble, were captured, and sometimes even killed; yet they had always managed to come home alive. He wanted with all of his heart to believe that this would be another one of those times, but it didn't seem possible. Landry had called him with an update in the mid-afternoon and the news hadn't been good. The SGC had contacted the Rand Protectorate to ask about survivors and was informed that there were none. Jack knew that didn't necessarily mean they were telling the truth, but they couldn't send another ship to investigate with the threat of the weapons satellite. And he knew that the President would never authorize the use of the stargate for an all out attack on a heavily fortified military base when there was no proof that there was anyone left to rescue. So even if Sam had by some miracle survived the destruction of Prometheus she was still just as lost to him. He had no doubt what the fate of any survivors found by the Rand Protectorate would be.

This was exactly what Jack had been terrified of when he first realized that Sam would be needed back on SG-1 and he deeply regretted giving in so easily. Surely after eight years of putting herself into danger Sam deserved a break. It should have been someone else's turn to risk their life on the front lines, but as Jack had painfully learned many times throughout his life; the universe isn't fair. Although he knew Sam would have been furious if she ever found out, he should have fought harder to keep her at Area 51 and let someone else take a turn saving the world. Instead she had returned to the front lines and now it seemed that SG-1's luck had finally run out. Jack honestly wasn't sure how he was going to manage to survive the loss of not only Sam, but of Daniel and Teal'c as well.

Jack was startled out of his grief induced stupor when he heard the shrill ring of his cell phone coming from somewhere in the dark beside him. It was the SGC. He briefly considered ignoring the call. He didn't think he could handle talking about the situation anymore, it was simply too painful; but the small part of him that continued to hope for another SG-1 miracle convinced him to answer.

"O'Neill."

"How you holding up, Jack?" Landry asked.

"What do you want, Hank? I'm not really in the mood to chat." Jack snapped. He didn't want sympathy; he just wanted to be left alone.

"We just received some news on the Prometheus situation and I thought you'd want to hear it straight from the source."

After a slight pause Jack heard a new voice over the phone that made his breath catch in his throat.

"Hi, sir." Sam greeted; sticking to proper protocol since they were on an official line.

"Carter? Please tell me I'm not dreaming." Jack responded in a shaky voice. Please let it not be a dream, he repeated to himself silently; squeezing his eyes shut tightly while he waited for a response.

"You're not, sir. I'm really here." Jack released a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding.

"God, Carter, I thought I'd lost you for good this time. What happened?"

"We managed to beam most of the crew off of the ship before it was destroyed. We still lost a lot of good people though, including Colonel Pendergast. As for how we made it back to Earth; that's a long story. General Landry thought that you might like to be briefed in person so I'm headed to Washington, D.C. in the morning." Way to go, Hank; Jack cheered inwardly. He'd been dreading the idea of waiting another three days before he would be able to get away from D.C. and hold Sam in his arms again. He needed to see her, to feel her, before he would fully believe that this conversation hadn't been a fantasy borne of wishful thinking.

"Sounds good, Carter. Let me know when you get your travel plans finalized and I will make sure someone is there to greet you at the airport." Jack grinned for the first time in hours as he said this. He fully intended to be the one to greet her. Sure it might look odd for a Major General to pick up a Lt. Colonel from the airport, but after the events of the day Jack really didn't care.

_SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1_

_The next day…_

Jack was nearly bouncing on his toes in anticipation as he waited for Sam's plane to touch down at Dulles. She had opted to take a civilian red eye flight since there were no military flights scheduled until late in the afternoon. At least that was the excuse. Jack secretly suspected that her real reason had something to do with the fact that at Dulles he could greet her as Jack, not as General O'Neill. It was a good thing too, because after thinking that he had lost her forever the day before, Jack didn't think he would have been able to keep his military bearing whether they were in the middle of an Air Force base or not.

As the first passengers began to enter the baggage claim area Jack unconsciously began to hold his breath. Even though he and Sam had talked for hours on the phone the night before, there was a small part of him that still feared this was all a dream and that he would suddenly awaken to find himself once again alone in the darkness of his office. After what seemed like an eternity he finally saw a familiar blonde figure approaching. As their eyes met it took all of Jack's self control to not rush straight to her and cause a scene in the middle of the terminal. As Sam neared him Jack reached out and gently cupped her cheek in one hand, relishing the feel of her soft, warm skin beneath his fingers. His mouth opened and closed as he tried in vain to figure out what to say.

"Come 'ere." Sam whispered softly, stealing his usual line, as she reached up to caress the hand on her cheek before pulling him into an embrace.

_SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1_

**A/N:** I thought about continuing the story to include more of their reunion, but I decided to save a similar scene for another upcoming chapter. SG-1 manages to get in so much trouble that I'm afraid that if I cover every emotional aspect of each event the chapters may start to become repetitive, and that's something I hope to avoid.


	3. Chapter 2: Too Close

**Disclaimer:** Just borrowing them for a bit. I promise to give them back when I'm done (if I have to).

**Timing:** After the season 9 episode "Off the Grid"

**A/N: **Thanks again for all of the wonderful reviews! I love hearing what you think. Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up. Things have been pretty busy for me recently and finding time to write has been a bit of a challenge.

**Chapter 2: Too Close**

Sam let out a small groan as the hot water of the shower washed over the cuts and bruises covering her body. Now that the adrenaline caused by the events of the past few days was finally wearing off she was exhausted and her entire body ached. All she could think about was getting through the upcoming debriefing as fast as possible and then heading home. Normally Sam got bored quickly at home unless Jack was around; but after being captured, beaten, and nearly killed twice in less than 48 hours she was ready for some rest and relaxation.

Sam let out a sigh as she rested her head against the tiles of the shower when she suddenly remembered what day it was. It was Friday and she was scheduled to catch a 7pm flight to Washington, D.C. to visit Jack. She didn't think she would be able to stay awake that long, much less deal with the hassle of travel. To make matters worse she was supposed to accompany him to a formal political reception on Saturday. Somehow she didn't think that the cuts on her left cheek combined with her split lip would match her dress blues very well. Sam knew that Jack had been looking forward to having her company for the event and she had been looking forward to spending some time with him as well; but as much as she loved the man, he would have to learn to live with disappointment. Tonight she had a date with Chinese food, her pajamas, a good book, and a comfy couch; everything else could wait until later.

_SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1_

_Later that evening…_

Jack grinned as he quietly opened the door to Sam's house in Colorado Springs. He was glad they had decided to exchange keys a few months ago; it made surprises so much easier when you didn't need to use a lock pick. He knew he should have stayed in Washington to attend the political function the next evening, but when had he ever done exactly what he was supposed to? When he had finished with his afternoon meetings he had found a message on his phone from Sam. She let him know that SG-1 had had just gotten back from a rough mission and that she didn't have it in her to make the trip. That news combined with the strain he could hear in her voice prompted him to find an evening flight to Colorado Springs. Jack hated spending most of the week away from Sam under normal circumstances and he was going to make sure he was there for her when she needed him; formal receptions be damned.

As he made his way into the living room his heart skipped a beat at the sight before him. Sam hadn't managed to make it to her bedroom. She was sprawled on the couch under her favorite blanket with an open book collapsed on her chest. She was beautiful. Jack quietly approached her and reached down to carefully remove the book before he paused with a grimace making out the gash and bruising on her cheek that had been hidden from him by the way she was facing. He hated seeing her banged up. Placing the book on the end table, Jack leaned over her and gently placed kisses on her forehead, damaged cheek, and finally lips. He hadn't intended to wake her up, but as he began to pull away he felt Sam's hands come to the sides of his face as she pulled him back in for another kiss. When they broke apart her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him in surprise as if she had expected him to disappear when she fully awoke.

"You're really here?" Sam questioned sleepily, looking slightly confused. "I thought I was dreaming."

"Surprise." Jack replied with a smug grin. Sam was cute when she was confused and it happened so rarely he was extremely proud of himself for being the one to cause it.

"I thought you had to stay in Washington this weekend."

"I'm playing hooky. I heard a rumor that my favorite Lt. Colonel had a rough day, so I decided she was due some pampering." He brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes before gently tracing the wound on her face. "And from the looks of this you definitely need some."

"What about the reception, won't you be missed?" Sam tried to reason. She was excited to see Jack, but didn't want him to get in trouble on her account.

"They'll get over it. Considering they refused to let me retire after we defeated Anubis and the replicators I seriously doubt they will get rid of me because I missed some boring social event." Jack gave her an unconcerned shrug as he answered.

"Well, as much as I appreciate it, you didn't have to change your plans just because SG-1 had a rough mission."

"I know I didn't have to, but I wanted to. Only seeing you on the weekends doesn't seem like enough time together to begin with; I wasn't about to give one up if I didn't have to. Of course if you don't want me here I can always go visit Daniel." Jack responded with a look of mock hurt and began to rise from the edge of the couch where he was sitting.

"Don't you dare." Sam reached out to grab his hand as she spoke. "If you even think about going anywhere I'll let Daniel and Teal'c know what a softy you become around me. You have your reputation to consider here General." She teased.

"You win, you win!" Jack raised his free hand in a gesture of surrender as they both started laughing. Unfortunately Sam's laughter was cut short by a wince as she was reminded of the bruised ribs she had received thanks to the Lucian Alliance.

"You okay, Sam?" Jack asked in concern as he saw the brief look of pain cross her face. He was suddenly furious that someone had hurt his Sam, as he had taken to thinking of her. It was probably a good thing the frat rules had been in place when they were on SG-1 together. Since taking their relationship to the next level, Jack had been feeling even more protective of Sam than he had in the past. If he was still going into the field with her he was pretty sure he would have to suppress the urge to pummel anyone who even looked at her funny; which in turn would likely get the team into even more trouble than they usually managed on their own.

"I'll be fine; my ribs are just a little tender." She replied as she slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position next to Jack. Unfortunately all of her muscles had stiffened up and the movement caused another wince. She was obviously not fine, Jack decided, no matter how much she tried to convince him otherwise.

"Let me see, Sam." Jack stated as he reached for the hem of the t-shirt she was wearing. She started to protest, but fell silent realizing it was a losing battle. Jack's breath caught as he gently pulled her shirt over her head leaving her clad in a sports bra and pajama bottoms. Her entire right side was covered in a mass of purple bruises and her left shoulder was badly bruised as well. He'd been held prisoner enough through the years to guess that the bruise on her shoulder was due to being roughly shoved to the ground with her hands bound behind her. And he knew that the mass of bruises on her ribs was likely a result of being repeatedly kicked while on the ground; it was a wonder they weren't actually broken. When Jack had first seen the cuts on her face he had hoped they were the result of a fight, but now it was clear SG-1 hadn't been so lucky. Even though he had been side by side with her in many similar situations the thought of her being bound and beaten sickened him.

"It looks worse than it feels. I'm okay, really, just a little sore." Sam attempted to reassure him.

"You weren't kidding when you said you had a rough mission." Jack stated with a shake of his head. "What happened anyway?" He was somewhat annoyed that Hank hadn't let him know that SG-1 was in trouble, but he knew deep down that it was for the best. As the head of the Department of Homeworld Security he couldn't show favoritism towards his former team, and asking to be called each time they missed a check in would definitely be bad for appearances.

"We were sent to investigate a corn-like crop that is highly addictive. Mitchell attempted to pose as a smuggler to gather more information. Let's just say that plan failed miserably and we were captured by the Lucian Alliance. Although we would have been fine if Ba'al hadn't stolen the planet's stargate moments before we managed to dial out."

"I see SG-1 hasn't lost its touch. Who else could manage to combine addictive corn, an Air Force officer posing as a drug dealer, and a goa'uld stealing stargates all in one mission?" Jack joked attempting to lighten the mood a bit. Sam had visibly tensed when she spoke of being captured. "So, how'd you guys manage to escape?" Jack didn't want to upset her by making her relive the mission, but he felt a need to know what had happened to her. She seemed slightly shaken and he hoped getting her talking about it would help.

"We didn't." Sam mumbled quietly dropping her gaze to stare into her lap.

"The fact that you're sitting here, with me, in your living room begs to differ." Jack stated reaching out to take her hands in his.

"We didn't escape… we got lucky. The Odyssey showed up just in time to beam us out."

"Just in time?" Jack prodded. He could tell she didn't want to talk about it, but knew from personal experience that bottling up feelings didn't accomplish anything; although he wasn't about to admit that to anyone else.

"They were about to execute us. It was close, Jack, too close." She looked up at him with tears in her eyes before leaning forward and resting her head on his chest while wrapping her arms around his sides.

"How close, Sam?" Jack whispered into her hair. He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer, but she needed to say it and he needed to hear it. She took a deep breath before responding; her voice shaking slightly.

"The guns went off at the same moment we were beamed out. I heard the shots and saw the muzzle flashes. If the Odyssey had shown up even a half second later I'd be dead." As Sam finished speaking the stress of the past few days finally caught up with her. With Jack holding her in his arms she allowed herself to drop the strong soldier routine and let her emotions loose, pressing her face into the solid wall of his chest as her tears began to flow. Jack rested his head on top of hers and gently rubbed circles on her back, taking care to avoid her injured right side. The thought of how easily he could be planning her memorial service instead of comforting her nearly broke his heart. She was right, SG-1's rescue had been entirely too close.

_SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1_

**A/N:** Although SG-1 managed to carry out the mission to retrieve the stolen stargates, I imagine they were pretty beat up (as I portrayed Sam in this story) but that they had enough adrenaline going to ignore the discomfort long enough to get the job done.


	4. Chapter 3: Hope and Despair

**Disclaimer:** Just borrowing them for a bit. I promise to give them back when I'm done (if I have to).

**Timing:** During/after the season 9 episode "The Scourge"

**A/N: **I'm learning that writing can be a funny thing. I went back and forth with myself for days on how I wanted to write this chapter and I couldn't get anything flowing. I was seriously considering skipping this episode, but then decided to give it one more shot and suddenly this popped into my head. Hope you enjoy!

**Chapter 3: Hope and Despair**

Jack was sitting at his desk in the Pentagon fiddling with the small velvet box that he had been carrying around with him since shortly after Sam's brush with death at the hands of the Lucian Alliance. As much as a part of him had wanted to whisk Sam away to Vegas the first free chance they got, they had made the mutual decision to build their new relationship slowly. While General O'Neill and Carter knew each other very well, Jack and Sam still had much to learn. That decision was made while Sam was safe and sound at Area 51, however. After her two recent close calls Jack had realized that they couldn't afford to take things too slowly with her back out on the front lines. She could be taken from him at any moment and he wanted to be sure she knew that when he had told her 'always' he meant it; no matter how long or short 'always' might be. As reports on the situation at the Gamma Site continued to come in he was afraid he might have already waited too long.

Although his first instinct had been to respectfully inform the President that SG-1 had more important things to do than babysit IOA representatives, Jack's concern for Sam had led him to agree with his commander in chief. At the very least he could keep her safe for another few days; or so he had thought. Unfortunately the universe once again seemed to be conspiring against him. Instead of fidgeting nervously with the ring box in anticipation of popping the question, he was fidgeting as he prayed silently that the ring would still have someone to wear it four hours from now. Four hours. That was how long it would take Odyssey to reach the Gamma Site; that's how long it would be before Jack would learn Sam's fate. He didn't know how he was going to make it. The past hour since his last update from General Landry had already seemed like an eternity.

_SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1_

_Four hours later_…

Jack had barely moved an inch in the past several hours. He was still sitting at his desk fidgeting with the velvet box and trying not to go insane with worry. There were moments where he was convinced that Sam was truly gone this time. Earlier in the day the SGC had lost the ability to dial into the Gamma Site indicating that the base self destruct had likely gone off, burying the stargate in the process. If SG-1 was anywhere near the base at the time he knew that there was no way they could have survived. This line of thinking was then generally interrupted by the hope that SG-1 had decided to attempt to escape from the bugs and was safely away from the blast. An attempted escape would lead to more problems though. How do you escape on foot from a mass of burrowing carnivorous bugs that hunt using echolocation? And how would the Odyssey know they were still alive with the planet's atmosphere interfering with their locator beacons? Maybe the Odyssey would be able to tell the difference between human and insect life signs. Jack sighed. Probably not. How do you distinguish a handful of human signals on a sea of background life signs? Had he signed Sam's death warrant by agreeing to the implementation of protocol CR91? While Jack knew that it was the only decision he could have made, if it was later determined that Sam had survived the bugs but been killed by the neurotoxin Jack wasn't sure he would be able to live with himself. No one should have to give the order that causes the death of a loved one.

Jack groaned and rested his head on his forearms as he realized the circular path his thoughts had once again taken. He was mentally and emotionally exhausted and the longer the wait the more it seemed his thoughts drifted to death and despair rather than the hope that SG-1 would manage another miraculous escape. He did manage to hold on to some shred of hope, however. Jack had lived through enough situations where death should have been certain that he refused to give up completely; and the recent events surrounding the destruction of the Prometheus had reinforced that mindset. Ack, back to hope again; Jack felt like banging his head against his desk in frustration. The way his thoughts were continuously swinging back and forth between the polar opposites of hope and despair was beginning to take its toll on his sanity. As much as Jack hated himself for thinking it, a part of him just wanted the waiting to be over; even if it meant receiving news that would make his world crumble beneath him.

As if on cue, his phone started ringing. The idea that bad news would be better than no news quickly lost its appeal. At least while he was still waiting there was a place for hope in his mind. Jack's hands shook as he reached out to answer the phone.

"O'Neill." He answered quietly. It was suddenly difficult to breathe, much less speak.

"Jack, we just got word from the Odyssey."

"And?"

"SG-1 managed to keep the IOA representatives alive and get a message to the Odyssey. They were beamed aboard moments ago." Landry reported.

"Thank, god." Jack breathed a sigh of relief. Somehow SG-1 had done it again. As he listened to the rest of Landry's report Jack realized that as ecstatic as he was at the news Sam was alive, it was still a bittersweet moment. They had lost a lot of good people, and there were many other loved ones who would soon be getting the very news he had once again been lucky to escape.

_SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1_

_Several days later…_

Life couldn't get much better than this Jack decided as he sat on his couch with a hockey game on TV, pizza on the coffee table, a beer in one hand, and Sam cuddled up against his other side. After the events of the recent mission SG-1 had been given a week of downtime and Sam had decided to spend the entire week in DC. He hated that he still had to work most of the days she was there, but at least he could come home to her every evening; he could easily get used to that. There was one small problem, however; Sam had been in town for three days and Jack was still carrying the ring around in his pocket. He wanted the proposal to be perfect, but he had no idea how he was going to accomplish that. His first thought had been to take Sam to a fancy restaurant and propose there; but that was way too cliché. Not to mention the fact that she would be incredibly suspicious the minute he volunteered to take her somewhere that involved him wearing a suit. He had always hated suits, and his loathing for them was even greater now that he had to wear his dress blues to work every day. Plan B had been to take her on a moonlit walk through the central areas of the city before proposing. He had heard that the monuments were gorgeous at night. The weather had interfered with this plan, however, as rain was forecast for the rest of the week.

He hadn't come up with plan C yet, but he needed to come up with something before he lost his nerve. Jack was pretty certain that Sam would say yes, but after her two previous failed engagements a part of him was terrified that she would want nothing to do with marriage. Maybe he should just ask her right now, he mused; then dismissed the thought. Proposing over pizza and beer in the middle of a hockey game wasn't exactly the most romantic setting. "Oh for crying out loud!" he muttered. He had faced hundreds of jaffa, replicators, and other various bad guys throughout the years; asking the woman he loved a simple question shouldn't be this difficult.

"What?" Sam questioned glancing over at him when she heard his muttered exclamation. Doh! Jack groaned inwardly as he realized he'd verbalized his frustration. How was he going to get himself out of this one without giving anything away?

"Uh… nothing… just the hockey game." Jack was sure that would get him off the hook; he didn't think Sam actually paid attention to what was going on in the game.

"Jack… your team just scored…" Sam replied giving him an exasperated look. Aw crap, so much for that excuse. Now he really was in trouble.

"Huh, so they did." Jack attempted to drop the subject turning back to the game and taking another sip of his beer.

"So Jack, what were you thinking about? You've been acting a little odd the last few days." So much for the perfect proposal, Jack thought as he turned back to Sam and giving in to defeat. It was now or never; the last thing he wanted to do was get her mad at him by evading her questions. That would definitely not help his chances of getting answer he was hoping for.

"Us." He replied simply, placing his beer on the table and turning to take both of her hands in his.

"What about us?" Sam looked slightly concerned.

"Nothing bad; I promise." Jack reassured her before continuing. "I know we said we weren't going to rush into anything, but with all of the danger you face day in and day out I'm afraid if I wait too long to ask you this I'll never get the chance." Taking a deep breath Jack released Sam's hands and reached into his pocket for the ring box. He carefully opened it and held the ring out towards her as he continued. "I'm not sure what you see in a sarcastic old Air Force general, but I mean it when I say I want to be there for you always. I don't know when we'll have the time to make it official, but I wanted to make sure you knew how I felt; that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you; if you'll have me." As Jack finished he gently slipped the ring onto her finger and held his breath as he waited for a response. Sam stared at her hand for a few seconds in shock before reaching up to grab both sides of Jack's face and pulling him towards her, their lips meeting in a passionate kiss.

"Was that a yes?" Jack questioned when they finally broke apart.

"Yes." Sam replied with a nod as she leaned in to kiss him again before wrapping her arms around his neck and holding him tight.

"Just so you know; I had planned to do something more romantic for you than propose in the middle of my living room while we watched hockey in our pajamas and drank beer, but I couldn't quite manage to pull it off." Jack whispered into her ear with a resigned chuckle as they embraced.

"It was perfect, Jack. This is you…" Sam pulled back and gestured at their surroundings, "and it's you I want to marry. If you'd done anything else I probably would have worried you'd been infected by some sort of alien virus." Jack laughed at that before leaning in for yet another kiss. He didn't know what he'd done to deserve this woman, but he wasn't complaining.

_SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1_

**A/N: **I hope the proposal scene turned out okay. I was nervous to do it and nearly decided to leave it to your own imagination, but then got this idea and went with it.


	5. Chapter 4: Wednesdays

**Disclaimer:** Just borrowing them for a bit. I promise to give them back when I'm done (if I have to).

**Timing:** During the season 9 episode "Arthur's Mantle." There is also a slight spoiler for the episode "200" at the end.

**A/N: **Thanks again for all of your wonderful reviews! I'm glad you all seemed to like the way I did the proposal scene. I was worried about being chased by a mob of angry Sam/Jack fans if I messed that one up. =) I'm taking a bit of a break from the serious/emotional chapters and going for a bit of humor with this one.

**Chapter 4: Wednesdays**

It was 15:00 on a Wednesday and Jack was bored. He hated Wednesdays. Monday and Tuesday were normally filled with meetings; and although they weren't exactly fun, at least they gave him an excuse to avoid his paperwork. Thursday and Friday weren't too bad either. Reports from SGC missions generally came in on these days and inevitably one of the SG teams had gotten themselves into some amusing predicament earlier in the week that provided Jack with some entertainment. Thursday and Friday were also close to the weekend, which most weeks meant he would be able to see Sam soon; and seeing Sam was always a plus. Wednesday, however, was boring; mind numbingly boring. There were stacks of paperwork on his desk covering the all important topics of budget requests, personnel transfer requests, reports from the various science teams at Area 51, and supply requisition summaries for the SGC and all of Earth's ships. Jack let out an exasperated sigh as he stared at the stack of uncompleted reports still awaiting his signature. He would almost swear that it had actually grown since this morning even though he had been working on it for hours. If he didn't know better he would think someone was transporting more papers onto the stack while he wasn't looking.

Jack decided there was only one remedy for paperwork induced boredom; harassing Sam. Since he could no longer stop by her lab on a whim just to annoy her, Jack had taken to calling her instead if he knew that SG-1 wasn't scheduled for a mission. He did his best to time it around her lunch hour so that he could use the excuse that he was calling to make sure she took a break from whatever doohickey she was working on long enough to eat. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, not even her, but really he just missed her. It was a shame the Department of Homeworld Security had to be based out of the Pentagon and not Cheyenne Mountain. Grabbing his cell phone from his desk drawer he hit her number on speed dial and impatiently waited for her to answer. As much as she might complain about the interruptions, he knew she enjoyed them as much as he did judging by how quickly she always answered her phone. Or at least how quickly she usually answered her phone, Jack thought with a puzzled frown as his call went to voicemail. That was odd, but he supposed she could have been called away for an impromptu briefing. Jack wasn't too concerned, but it did leave him with a problem. He was still bored. Hitting another button on his phone he decided to opt for his second favorite target for harassment.

_SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1_

Daniel was searching through all of the research he'd gathered on Merlin and Arthur trying to determine the intended purpose of the artifact that had caused the disappearance of his teammates when he noticed one of the books was vibrating. Or rather the phone that was buried underneath it was vibrating. Glancing at the caller ID he let out a groan; it looked like Jack was bored again and with Sam out of touch he appeared to be the target.

"Hi Jack."

"What's up Danny Boy?"

"Well, I was trying to work, which I assume is what you're supposed to be doing." Daniel replied sarcastically.

"It's called taking a break, Daniel. I'm pretty sure I explained the concept to you and Sam more than once through the years, but I guess it didn't stick."

"Yes, well, some of us don't have time for breaks." Daniel retorted. He really didn't have time to amuse Jack today.

"So, whatcha working on that's so important?" Jack asked. Daniel grimaced; he'd been hoping to avoid that particular topic. It would be much easier if they found Sam before Jack learned she was missing; he was a pain when he was worried.

"Just trying to help Sam figure out what one of the artifacts found in Glastonbury does." He replied, hoping Jack would drop the subject.

"And that's so important you can't take a break because…" Jack pestered.

"Sam needs any information I can find as soon as possible." Daniel winced as soon as the words came out of his mouth. Continuously referring to Sam probably wasn't the best thing to do considering the current situation.

"Speaking of Sam, where is she? I tried calling her first, but she didn't pick up."

"Um, she's unavailable."

"Yes, Daniel, I got that… but where is she?"

"Not here." Daniel knew being evasive wouldn't accomplish anything in the long run, but he couldn't help but stall. He wasn't looking forward to what was coming.

"Once again, Daniel, I got that; but you still didn't answer my question. Where exactly is she?

"Honestly, Jack, I have no clue." Which was true for the most part, Daniel decided. They were pretty sure Sam and Mitchell were still on base and he had a suspicion as to what might have happened, but he didn't actually know for sure.

"Is she on base?"

"We think so."

"You think so? What do you mean you think so?" Daniel could tell Jack was starting to get annoyed by the way his voice rose a bit with each new question.

"She and Mitchell are sort of… missing." Daniel answered as he bowed his head in defeat. So much for finding Sam before Jack had time to worry.

"Missing? Sam is missing and you didn't think I might want to know this, Daniel? What happened? And is there any particular reason you've spent the last few minutes doing your best not to tell me?" Jack was definitely not happy.

"She and Mitchell disappeared from Dr. Lee's lab while was working on the Ancient device. We're pretty sure they're still on base somewhere though since the energy signature isn't anything like those of transporter beams. And I was, ah, hoping we'd find her before you found out she was missing." Daniel winced. That wasn't going to go over well. It was probably good they weren't having this discussion in person; Jack was going to want to strangle him.

"Oh, for crying out loud!"

_SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1_

_Several hours later…_

Jack was getting impatient. Daniel had promised to keep him updated on Sam's situation and yet he hadn't heard anything from the man since they had spoken earlier. He was trying not to worry too much since Daniel had seemed fairly confident that Sam was fine, but he couldn't help but be a little concerned at the fact that his fiancé had disappeared without a trace in the middle of a top secret military base. Jack paused in mid-step as he realized he was pacing back and forth in his living room. Okay, maybe he was more than just a little concerned. Walking over to his coffee table he picked up his phone from where he had dropped it next to his keys and wallet. He once again dialed Daniel and waited for him to pick up.

"Jack." Daniel answered with a sigh.

"I thought you were going to keep me updated, Daniel." Jack whined as he began his pacing again.

"I've been a little busy, Jack. I figured you'd rather me find Sam than call you every half hour."

"Yes… but it hasn't been half an hour, Daniel, it's been…" Jack paused glancing down at his watch "… three hours."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." Jack once again had the urge to strangle his friend. "So what have you accomplished in the last three hours? Did you find them?"

"Sort of."

"What do you mean sort of? You either found them or you didn't." Jack snapped. He didn't think he was up for another round of twenty questions with Daniel. His attempts to get a straight answer out of him during their first conversation had nearly given him a headache.

"They're out of phase."

"Out of what?"

"The device Sam was working on was built by Merlin as a way to shift himself and his work into another dimension so the other ancients wouldn't interfere. Sam somehow managed to activate it sending herself and Mitchell into the alternate dimension." Daniel explained.

"And that means?" Jack prompted.

"They're invisible."

"Ah." Why didn't' he just say that in the first place, Jack wondered. By this time Jack had unconsciously made his way to the refrigerator. This conversation definitely called for a beer. Why couldn't anything normal ever happen to him? Most men couldn't get in touch with their fiancés because their cell phone was dead or they'd left it at home, he couldn't get in touch with his because she'd managed to turn herself invisible. Well, at least his personal life was never boring.

"We can't see or hear them, but they can see us; like what happened to me when I touched that crystal skull a few years ago." Daniel continued.

"Uh… I hate to burst your bubble, Daniel, but if you can't see or hear them… how do you know you found them?" Jack questioned as he cracked open his beer.

"Well, you see, the device has a keyboard that can be operated from the alternate dimension. We designated keys for yes and no so Sam and Mitchell can answer simple questions."

"I'll take your word for it; any ideas on how to make them un-invisible?" Jack responded.

"We're working on it. Apparently the machine has some sort of display in the other dimension and I'm helping Sam translate it. Or at least I was trying to before I was interrupted. You do realize we'll get them back a lot faster if you actually let me work, right?" Daniel asked sarcastically.

"Fine." Jack pouted. He felt slightly better knowing that Sam was okay, relatively speaking, but he wouldn't be completely happy until she was safely back in the correct dimension.

"Good bye, Jack." Daniel stated before Jack heard the click of the connection severing.

_SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1_

_Saturday evening…_

Jack and Sam were enjoying a nice relaxing evening at her house in Colorado Springs. She was once again in the proper dimension and they were watching a movie stretched out together on her couch. It was wide enough for both of them to lie down and Jack loved to take advantage of that. He was spooned up against Sam's back; one arm being used as a pillow, the other wrapped around her waist as he drew lazy circles on her stomach with his fingers.

"You know, it's a shame I'm not still on SG-1. I think I could have enjoyed being invisible for a day." Jack mumbled.

"Jack, I seem to remember you being invisible for a week…" Sam responded sleepily.

"Yes, well, I didn't have company that time. I was thinking specifically that I could have enjoyed being invisible… in the SGC… with you." Jack replied as he began to nibble on the back of Sam's neck causing her to shiver.

"Hmm, what did you have in mind?" Sam replied as the attention Jack was giving to her neck caused another shiver.

"Well, if we were both invisible, we could… 'fraternize' anywhere on base we wanted to without the risk of getting caught." He whispered in her ear before turning his attention back to her neck.

"Jack!" Sam reached backwards and swatted his leg.

"Oh, come on. Don't even try to tell me in all the years we worked together you didn't have any fantasies about having your way with me somewhere in the SGC; maybe your lab, the briefing room, my old office?" He teased with a smirk. From the blush that was slowly creeping up Sam's neck Jack knew that she had.

"Fantasies are one thing, but I don't think I'd ever feel comfortable doing anything on base; invisible or not." Sam attempted to reason.

"Oh, I could have made you feel very comfortable. I have my ways." Jack declared as the hand that was drawing patterns on her stomach began slowly drifting lower.

"And what would those be?" Sam inquired breathlessly.

"Trade secrets," he replied smugly, "but I might be persuaded to give you a demonstration." As he replied Jack pushed himself up into a sitting position before suddenly scooping Sam up in his arms and carrying her towards the bedroom; the end of the movie could wait. He was rewarded for his actions with a surprised squeak from Sam, causing his smug grin grow wider. Jack may not have been a big fan of Wednesdays, but other days weren't so bad he decided. Saturdays for example; those he loved.


	6. Chapter 5: Nightmares

**Disclaimer:** Just borrowing them for a bit. I promise to give them back when I'm done (if I have to).

**Timing:** After the episodes "Camelot" (Season 9) and "Flesh and Blood" (Season 10)

**A/N: **I'm trying something new (for me at least) in this chapter. Instead of having paragraphs of explanations in dialogue, most of Sam's experiences will be written as flashbacks. These will be in _italics. _Also,I normally like to fill in the gaps in episodes rather than make slight adaptations to scenes that are already present, but I made an exception for the chapter. After re-watching the episodes I was drawn to Sam's experiences and decided to follow certain events from the show very closely, but from entirely her perspective rather than that of the other characters.

**Chapter 5: Nightmares**

Jack was woken from a deep sleep by a sound that made his blood run cold; Sam's scream. He bolted upright in bed, his heart racing as he quickly surveyed his surroundings looking for any sign of danger. It took him a few seconds to realize that he was in Sam's house in Colorado Springs and from the looks of things she was having one hell of a nightmare. She was thrashing about in her sleep and he could see a sheen of sweat on her face. She had only let out the one scream, but she was still whimpering softly.

"Sam!" Jack called out gently as he brushed several stray hairs off of her forehead and attempted to wake her. "Sam!" He repeated in a slightly louder voice when he got no response. This time he saw her eyes slowly open in fear and confusion. The look of confusion slowly faded; however, the expression of sheer terror on her face remained.

"Come 'ere." Jack prompted as he lay back down and gathered Sam into his arms, holding her tightly. He could feel her trembling slightly against him. He knew things had gone badly on her last mission, but hadn't realized how much it had affected her. She had seemed fine each time they had spoken on the phone over the past several days. In truth she probably didn't fully realize how much it was affecting her either. He knew that SG-1 had been working frantically the last several days to help gather intel on the movements of the Ori ships and to bring warnings to their various allies throughout the galaxy. She probably hadn't had time to process things yet; at least not consciously. Unfortunately it seemed her subconscious mind was having no trouble in that department. Jack whispered comforting words into her hair as he rubbed his large hands up and down her back in a soothing gesture. After several minutes of being held, Sam's trembles slowly began to lessen. Once they had stopped completely Jack pulled back slightly and propped himself up on one elbow; his other hand brushing tears off of her cheeks.

"Nightmares, huh?" He questioned softly.

Sam nodded in response as she looked up into his eyes. The fear was still there, but Jack was pleased to see that she no longer looked absolutely terrified.

"How long?"

"Since we got back from Chulak." Sam whispered, finally finding her voice again. "It's getting to the point I don't even want to sleep anymore; knowing what I will face in my dreams."

"Why didn't you tell me? You know you can call me anytime you need, no matter the hour."

"I know, but I didn't want to worry you. Plus, you need your rest. I don't think falling asleep in a meeting with the Joint Chiefs would go over very well. I'll be fine." Sam smiled weakly at him in attempt to reassure him.

"First of all, as your fiancé worrying is part of my job description. I worry whenever you go on a mission, even more when I find out you've missed a check in, and the multiple times we've thought SG-1 might be lost I've been a basket case. I think I can handle a little extra worry due to nightmares." Jack rebutted. Sam tried to interrupt, but Jack held up a hand silencing her. She was just as stubborn as he was when it came to hiding behind the 'brave soldier routine' and he wasn't about to let her get away with it. "Secondly, you can wake me up anytime you need to. I can find plenty of coffee to keep me awake during any boring meetings the next day. And yes, you will be fine… but you're not fine yet. Trust me; I've had enough nightmares through the years to know. I don't want to pressure you, but know that I'm here when you want to talk about it." As he finished speaking Jack stared lovingly into her eyes and reached out to her, cupping the side of her neck in his hand and running his thumb across her jaw line. He recognized the haunted look in her eyes; he had seen it in the mirror after the many times he had woken in a cold sweat following his time in an Iraqi prison camp, and again after his quality time with Ba'al. It killed him that she was now forced to go through that same pain and fear.

Sam looked as though she was about to argue with him, but then gave a small sigh of defeat and curled up against his side instead, once again resting her head on his chest. Deep down she knew he was right, but throughout the years it had become habit to bury her fears and emotions deep inside. As a woman she had always felt even more pressure to not show any sign of weakness, and those old habits were hard to break; even around Jack.

"Thank you." She mumbled. Her voice was so quiet he could barely hear her.

"For what?"

"Being there for me once again."

"Like I've told you before, Sam, always." Jack gave her a slight squeeze as he replied. Sam snuggled closer into his side and he wrapped his arms protectively around her, running his hand lightly up and down her bare arm. They lay there in silence for several minutes, simply enjoying the feel of lying in each other's arms. Jack had just about decided that Sam wasn't yet ready to talk about the details of her nightmares and that she had once again fallen asleep when she suddenly began to speak.

"I was in a spacesuit anchored to the supergate when everything started to go wrong…"

_Sam had just finished switching the gate's control crystal when she suddenly noticed a wave of blue electricity coursing across the surface of the gate in her direction. She watched in horror as the crackling energy approached her, knowing it was too late to avoid it. Sam began to breathe a small sigh of relief when she was not instantly electrocuted on contact with the wave. Her relief was short lived, however, as she realized the magnetic field anchoring her boots to the gate had been disrupted. She was now slowly floating away from the gate into the depths of space and her radio calls to the Odyssey were met with nothing but static. She was trying to reign in the feelings of panic that were about to overwhelm her, when she was suddenly blinded by the flash of a forming wormhole. She glanced downward frantically at the display on her wrist, hoping that maybe the upload had gone through faster than expected and that the wormhole was theirs. This hope was dashed when she saw that the upload was only 63% complete. They were too late._

"The ships that came through the gate were massive, Jack. They could barely fit through the supergate and were nearly twice the size of any ship we had on our side. Still, there were only four which left them badly outnumbered. I thought that maybe we could discourage them from sending more ships by destroying or at the very least badly damaging their first wave. I wasn't prepared for what happened once the shooting started…"

_It had been several minutes since the Ori ships had passed through the supergate. They had arranged themselves in front of the combined ships of the Milky Way and there was a momentary standoff between the two forces as they sized each other up. Sam couldn't help but turn her attention back to the site of the supergate. She was nearly mesmerized by the sight before her. She had always loved watching the energy fluctuations in the event horizon of the wormholes created by the stargate. And the fluctuations on the surface of the supergate were breathtaking. The ripples of energy flowing across the surface of the gate appeared to be about as tall as she was, and the light from the engines of the gathered ships, combined with the nearby stars caused the ripples to shimmer. It was like nothing she had ever seen._

_Sam was startled out of her observations when a missile suddenly passed through the gate followed shortly by several balls of yellow energy fired from the Jaffa Ha'tak vessels. She watched in horror as every salvo fired from their small fleet of ships was either absorbed by the Ori shields or missed completely. Sam was momentarily blinded as she was nearly hit by an errant shot from the Asgard ship. The blue bolt of energy passed so close to her that she could feel the heat coming off of it. She closed her eyes momentarily and tried to calm her wildly beating heart; she knew that panic would solve nothing. There was nothing she could do but watch, and pray that her luck would hold out long enough for her to be rescued before being burnt to a crisp by any one of the many shots that were streaming past the Ori ships and heading in her direction. When she turned back to the action, Sam added another prayer to her list as one of the Ha'tak vessels was destroyed in a single hit by the energy beam emanating from the front of one of the enemy ships. She prayed there would still be someone left to rescue her once the battle was done._

_At first the Earth ships seemed to be faring better than their Jaffa counterparts. It seemed that their shields were able to absorb most of a single blast from an Ori ship, but Sam knew that wouldn't be enough. She could see the flickering of yellow and orange fires popping up along the side of Odyssey's hull as it was breached and the escaping oxygen burst briefly into flames. They wouldn't be able to keep this up for long and the enemy ships still remained completely undamaged. Sam felt helpless as she continued to watch the powerful bolts of energy passing between the remaining ships. It was like watching some sort of twisted fireworks show from hell. _

_As the battle continued to rage around her, Sam began willing the remaining ships to flee. She knew that although the Odyssey and Korolev appeared to still have some shields, their strength must be getting dangerously low. It seemed the Ori realized the same thing, as they turned their attention away from the remaining Ha'taks and focused their fire on the Korolev. Sam's eyes widened in horror as two of the Ori beam weapons converged on the Russian ship. For a split second it appeared that the shields would hold, but they couldn't withstand the energy of both blasts. As the shields failed one of the beams sliced through the center of the ship breaking it cleanly into two pieces before it was engulfed in a massive explosion. It was at this point that Sam knew she was going to die. The Ori were systematically destroying every ship in the area; which would leave her alone, in the darkness of space, waiting for her air to run out. Suddenly the idea of being engulfed in an energy blast didn't seem so bad; at least it would be quick, unlike the alternative. As she continued to watch ships explode around her Sam's thoughts turned to Jack. It felt like their time together had been too short and she suddenly felt a deep regret for all of the years they had wasted while they were doing their duty._

_She knew her death would tear him to pieces and she hoped he would keep a promise he had made to her sixth months earlier when he finally opened up to her about the events surrounding Charlie's death. As he admitted to her how close he had come on several occasions to taking his own life she was afraid that he would have a similar reaction should the worst happen to her. Knowing the dangers inherent in her job, Sam had made him promise that no matter what happened to her he would somehow find the strength to carry on. He readily agreed, reassuring her by explaining that after joining the Stargate program he had sworn he would never let himself get that low again. He did, however, admit that it would be hard; he had suffered so many losses in his life he wasn't sure how he would cope with another if the time came._

"I would have kept it, you know." Jack interrupted quietly as he squeezed her tighter, "but I'm glad I don't have to." He suddenly realized that Sam wasn't the only one trembling. Once again it seemed he had been way too close to losing her. He had read the official reports and knew that the battle had been horribly one-sided, but hearing her personal description of the events was gut wrenching. No wonder she was having nightmares.

"I know." She whispered into the solid wall of his chest.

"What happened next?" Jack prompted when Sam remained quiet for several minutes.

"As suddenly as the shooting had started; it stopped…"

_As the Ori ceased their constant battery of the remaining ships, Sam panned her head from side to side surveying the carnage of the battle. The remains of the Korolev as well as the many Ha'tak vessels that had been destroyed were floating through space as twisted hunks of metal. Several of the latest casualties were still spotted with small fires as the last pockets of oxygen were consumed. She was somewhat surprised to see that the Odyssey appeared mostly intact. She had expected nothing less than complete and utter destruction by the Ori, but it appeared that they wanted a few survivors to pass tales of their superior fire power on to others. At least she hoped that there were still survivors on board. The ship appeared to be in rough shape as it drifted aimlessly through the field of debris. Sam desperately wanted to attempt contact, but was worried that any radio signal she sent would be picked up by the Ori. Although the possibility of rescue was still slim, at least there was now a slight chance that Odyssey could beam her aboard once the Ori left; Sam didn't want to take any action that might jeopardize that chance. _

_After what seemed like an eternity, although she knew it had only been several minutes; Sam breathed a small sigh of relief as the Ori began moving away from the supergate. They didn't jump immediately into hyperspace, but instead proceeded into the distance using their sub light engines. As soon as they were out of sight Sam decided to risk sending a signal to the Odyssey. Her heart fell as her desperate calls for help were met only by static. Sam was doing everything she could to keep her composure, but she could feel herself slowly giving way to panic as the reality of her situation began to fully sink in now that her senses were no longer being assaulted by the battle raging around her._

_She didn't even know if anyone aboard the Odyssey knew she was alive. Every transmission she had sent since the gate began to activate had been met with nothing but static. She was suddenly terrified that Emerson would believe she had been killed when the wormhole was established and that she would be left behind. Several minutes later her fears were realized as she saw Odyssey's engines flare to life once again. There was no doubt now that there were survivors onboard, yet her calls were still met with static. As she saw the Odyssey began to move slowly away from her in the direction that the Ori had gone Sam began to feel tears of despair gathering in her eyes. As the Odyssey disappeared from view she let them fall freely. This was really it, she decided; no one was going to rescue her this time._

"But they did." Jack pointed out brushing his lips lightly across her forehead as he pulled her even tighter into his side, if that was even possible. A tinge of fear had entered her voice once again as she began to describe being left alone to suffocate. He shuddered slightly as he remembered the many hours he and Teal'c had spent waiting to die when the modified death glider had gone rogue. It was an experience he wouldn't have wished on anyone. Well, maybe on Ba'al, but that was an exception.

"Once the initial shock started to wear off my stubborn streak kicked in." Jack gave a slight chuckle at that earning him a jab in the ribs from the hand that had been resting on his chest. "I decided to keep sending out distress calls until either the batteries in my radio died or I ran out of air. I figured that the Jaffa were likely to send more ships to the survey the damage and I was praying that one would arrive before my air ran out. It took over four hours, but I was finally able to reach Mitchell and shortly afterwards the Odyssey returned."

"And they beamed you back on board safe and sound." Jack finished for her assuming that that was what had occurred.

"If only it had been that simple. The Asgard transporter beams were out of commission and my air was running out faster than Kvasir could repair them so Mitchell had to get creative…"

'_Oh boy,' Sam muttered as she realized Mitchell's new plan. He was crazy; she had no idea how he expected to pilot the Odyssey with enough precision to pull it off. As the large warship approached, Sam felt like a bug that was about to be smashed on the windshield of an oncoming car. She tried to reason with Mitchell, explaining to him that any impact would kill her instantly. She held her breath as the ship rapidly approached her position, only relaxing slightly as the bow of the ship passed harmlessly several meters from her right side. She was now close enough to make out the shielded docking bay that Mitchell was aiming for, but that didn't lessen her anxiety. It was a mighty small target in the middle of a massive wall of metal. The slightest deviation from Odyssey's current course would have a disastrous result. Sam's body was so tense she was struggling to breathe evenly as the massive ship loomed over her, the docking bay rapidly approaching. As she gauged the relative positions of herself and the approaching opening Sam realized they had another problem. She was way too high. Even without the weight of her suit a fall from the height she was currently contemplating would do some serious damage, in her current state she would be crushed._

'_Even if you get me in past the shield, the artificial gravity will kick in. A fall from even 30 feet in this suit…' Sam started to explain in a panicked voice, although she knew it was too late for anything to be done. At the rate in which the ship was approaching her there was no way they could turn away from her in time. Any course correction would cause her to impact the side of the ship._

'_Sam, stop worrying. Kvasir is riding the controls manually.' Mitchell attempted to reassure her. It didn't work; too many things could still go wrong. Slowly increasing the gravity in the bay caused its own problems. If Kvasir didn't get her safely on the ground before she reached the end of the docking bay the result would be just the same as if she had struck the outside of the ship. And at the speed Odyssey was moving he wouldn't have much time. Sam wanted to squeeze her eyes shut as she entered the docking bay; she didn't want to see the walls approaching if Kvasir didn't get the gravity adjusted in time. She found herself unable to look away, however. Sam glanced down between her feet as noticed herself begin to feel heavy. She could see the ship's deck approaching her. Unfortunately she was also rapidly nearing one of the support struts present in the bay. Now it was a race between the increasing gravity and the ship's forward momentum. Sam finally allowed her eyes to close in relief when she felt her feet briefly touch the deck before the weight of the suit pulled her down to the ground. As a group of medics rushed to her side and began to remove the cumbersome suit, Sam struggled to bring her ragged breathing and racing heart under control._

"Wow." Was all Jack could manage to say as Sam finally finished her story. He had always considered himself a fairly good pilot, but the idea of scooping someone up in the Odyssey's F-302 bay was insane. No, it was more than insane; it was mind boggling.

"Yeah," was Sam's only reply. She sounded exhausted. Not only was it the middle of the night, but the emotional toll of recounting the terrifying events had left her completely drained.

"Sam…" Jack began before his voice faded out. He wanted to say something to reassure her, to comfort her, but he couldn't think of a damn thing that would make it better. There were some things that only time could heal.


	7. Chapter 6: Guilt

**Disclaimer:** Just borrowing them for a bit. I promise to give them back when I'm done (if I have to).

**Timing:** After the season 10 episode "Company of Thieves"

**A/N: **Sorry it took me a while to get a new chapter up this week; I actually had most of this written Monday night, but then I got distracted. Videogames are one of my other hobbies and the new mmo Rift has been sucking up most of my free time since I picked it up Tuesday.

**Chapter 6: Guilt**

Jack felt completely exhausted as he pulled his car into the parking lot of his apartment complex in DC; the last few days had been hell, but thankfully the crisis was finally over. It had all started when Hank called to inform him that the Odyssey had been taken by the Lucian Alliance and that Sam was onboard. Anytime something went awry with one of Earth's warships Jack was instantly swamped with more meetings than he could count, and with Sam once again in serious jeopardy he hadn't managed more than a few hours of sleep each of the nights she was missing. Although the days were still difficult, the frantic pace of his many meetings kept him from dwelling too much on the negative. He'd learned from the events of the previous year that too much time to think in situations such as this was bad; he didn't like the places that his thoughts eventually wandered. The nights, however, were horrible. When his meetings inevitably ended he was forced to return home and attempt to sleep. He kept dreaming of receiving the call dreaded by anyone with loved ones in the military; the call saying she was killed in action.

Luckily SG-1 had managed to pull off another miraculous escape and was able to get themselves and most of Odyssey's crew home in one piece. Now that he knew that Sam was once again safe and sound Jack was ready to crash. He had one thing he needed to do first though; actually talk to her on the phone. When he finally got out of his morning meetings Jack had found a brief message from Sam on his phone. She assured him that she was okay and that she'd still be able to make it up for the weekend like they had planned, but he still couldn't help the worry he felt as he heard the strain in her voice. He could tell that some part of the events aboard the Odyssey had shaken her and he wanted to be there for her, but to do that she actually had to answer her phone. Jack had attempted to call whenever he got a free moment during the afternoon, but every call had gone to voice-mail. He was trying not to worry, after all he wasn't the only one to get stuck in meetings after a crisis, but he couldn't help it. There was always a part of him that didn't completely believe she was truly safe until they had seen each other or at least had a lengthy conversation.

Taking a deep breath Jack hit the speed dial for Sam on his phone as he headed down the hallway towards his door. One of his meetings had run late and he still had a stack of paperwork to finish once it was over so he hadn't managed to arrive home before 20:00. He was fairly certain that even with the time difference Sam should be home by now and if she didn't answer this time he was going to have a hard time resisting the urge to call the other members of SG-1 until he managed to track her down. He knew he was probably overreacting, but it was hard not to be a little clingy when her brushes with death were so frequent.

Jack's brow was beginning to furrow in worry as he fished around on his key ring for the proper key. Sam's phone had reached the fourth ring and there was still no answer. His look of worry was rapidly replaced by a look of confusion as he realized he was hearing double rings. A phone that sounded suspiciously like Sam's was ringing from inside his apartment, and in perfect time with the call he was placing. Sure enough as Jack pushed his door open and entered his living room he was greeted by the sight of Sam huddled up in a blanket on his couch. He instantly knew that he had been right in thinking something was wrong. Sam was sitting wedged in one corner of the couch with her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. As he got closer he could see that although no tears were currently falling her eyes were puffy and red as if she had recently been crying.

Jack quickly closed the distance between them, dropping his keys and phone on the coffee table as he passed by, and gathered Sam into his arms.

"Hi." Jack greeted as he pulled back from her slightly after a few seconds giving her a little grin. He was still in shock that he had found her in his living room; happy, but shocked.

"Hi." She replied weakly. "I hope you don't mind the surprise... I just needed to be with you tonight and SG-1 has a few days of downtime before our next mission."

"I never mind your company, Sam, although it definitely was a surprise. I thought I was losing it for a second there when I heard the phone I was calling ringing from inside my apartment. Speaking of that, you know you are supposed to answer those things when people call, right?" He gently teased hoping to get at least a small grin out of her.

"Yes, well, I didn't really see the point when I could hear you outside the door." She rebutted giving him the slight smile he was hoping for.

"You got me there." Jack conceded with a shake of his head. "Still I was starting to worry."

"Didn't you get my message?"

"Yes, but after all we've been through together this past year I can tell when you're upset even over the phone. And don't even try to deny it now; if I can tell over the phone, there's definitely no hiding it from me in person. You want to talk about it?"

"Eventually, but right now I just need the company." As Sam spoke she buried her face into the side of his neck and wrapped her arms around his stomach. Jack folded his arms around her shoulders in response and began to rock her gently back and forth while one hand stroked her hair.

_SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1_

_Several days later…_

The weather was gorgeous in DC and Sam and Jack had decided to head into downtown and take a walk along the mall. When they had time the couple enjoyed spending an afternoon enjoying the monuments and museums present in the nation's capital. As they strolled hand in hand from one to another they were able to feel like normal people for once, which in their line of work was rare. It also allowed them to slow down long enough to take pleasure in the simple things that they spent their weeks working so hard to save. As they stopped to sit on a bench and simply enjoy each other's company and the warm sunshine Jack decided that the day was perfect; well, almost perfect he amended as he glanced over at the woman sitting beside him.

She still hadn't opened up to him about what had happened onboard the Odyssey and that was unusual. After her past botched missions she had wanted to talk about the events fairly quickly, but she had been clammed up tight all week and he was worried. She was doing her best to act normal; laughing at his lame jokes, teasing him, but her smiles never quite reached her eyes completely. As he looked at her more closely he could tell that she wasn't paying any attention to the beautiful scenery around them; she was staring blankly into space as if she were lost in her own world.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Jack questioned playfully bumping her shoulder with his.

"Nothing." She replied with a shake of her head as she came out of her reverie.

"Sam… I could practically hear you thinking over here, plus I'm not sure your brain is even capable of thinking of nothing." He teased, trying to keep the mood light.

"Colonel Emerson's funeral is on Tuesday. The family over there reminded me of him; his kids are about that age."

Jack suddenly felt the light bulb come on. Of course Sam was upset about the death of Emerson; he had been a Captain in her first squadron after flight school and had taken the new lieutenants under his wing. They had been good friends ever since. He felt like an idiot for not realizing what was bothering her sooner.

"It's my fault he's dead, Jack." Sam continued; her voice barely louder than a whisper.

"You didn't provide the intel, you didn't make the decision to send Odyssey to investigate, and you definitely didn't pull the trigger; so I don't see how it could possibly be your fault."

"It doesn't matter who pulled the trigger. They killed him to get to me, to make me the senior officer so that he couldn't order me not to help them. If I hadn't been on board he might still be alive." Tears began to gather in her eyes as she spoke and Jack wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"You're right, he might still be alive; but it's more likely that he would still be dead. The Lucian Alliance probably would have made an example of him regardless of whether or not you were on board."

"Intellectually I know you're right," Sam admitted with a sigh, "but it doesn't keep me from feeling guilty; every time I stop too long to think I see him being executed right in front of me. I've seen people killed more times than I care to remember, but this was different. He wasn't killed in battle; he was murdered in cold blood and I was powerless to do anything to stop it. I felt completely useless."

"You may not have been able to save Emerson, but without you and the rest of SG-1 we'd likely have lost the ship and the entire crew. I'd say you were anything but useless." Jack pointed out giving her shoulders another squeeze. "Now what do you say we head on over to the Air and Space Museum so you can spend the rest of the afternoon confusing me with your techno babble. I don't get enough of that now that I'm away from the SGC."

Sam gave him a slight chuckle as he gently wiped the tears from her eyes and pulled her off of the bench. Her smile still didn't quite reach her eyes, but it was closer this time.


	8. Chapter 7: Fishing

**Disclaimer:** Just borrowing them for a bit. I promise to give them back when I'm done (if I have to).

**Timing:** During the season 10 episode "Line in the Sand"

**Chapter 7: Fishing**

It was mid-afternoon and Jack was starving. He'd been running from meeting to meeting all morning and this was the first chance he'd had to stop long enough to grab a bite to eat. Hoping to hide out for a bit Jack decided to get his lunch to go and take it back to his office. He needed at least half an hour free from the inane political discussions he had been forced to endure all day. It was probably a good thing that the only military personnel in the pentagon allowed to carry firearms were the security forces. He would have loved to have a P-90 in his earlier meetings. Not so much to shoot any particular person, but to at least have a way to get everyone to shut up long enough to actually listen to each other. He figured a nice burst of weapons fire into the ceiling would do the trick. Reaching his office Jack settled down into his desk with a sigh and prepared to take the first bite of his long overdue lunch. The fork was halfway to his mouth when the phone on his desk began to ring. Jack groaned as he lowered his food back to the to-go container and reached for the offending object.

"O'Neill." He growled into the receiver. It looked like he would have to actually leave the building in order to hide, but even that probably wouldn't be enough. His assistants would inevitably find some way to track him down.

"It's Hank, I've got some bad news, Jack." Landry didn't waste any time getting to the point.

"What happened?" Jack pinched the bridge of his nose with his hand as he wondered what crisis had befallen the SGC this time. He just prayed it didn't have anything to do with SG-1.

"There was an incident involving SG-1's last mission, Colonel Carter was shot by an Ori staff weapon."

Jack felt all the blood drain from his face as he heard the news; so much for prayers.

"Is she…" Jack began; he couldn't bear to finish the thought aloud.

"She's alive, but she's in bad shape. They were trapped on the planet for several hours after she was injured. Carolyn says it's a miracle she lasted as long as she did. They're doing all they can for her, but she lost a lot of blood and it may be touch and go for a while. I'm sorry, Jack, I wish I had better news."

Jack suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe and some part of him realized that he had begun to shake. He was in shock. Sam had survived so many brushes with death since re-joining SG-1 with barely a scratch that she had begun to seem invincible to him. He was suddenly forced to face the rude realization that Sam was in fact a mere mortal like the rest of them and that her luck may have finally run out. In many ways this was worse than even the events surrounding the destruction of Prometheus or the incident at the Gamma site. At least then, not knowing what had really occurred, he was able to imagine all of the improbable ways in which she could have escaped from harm. The certainty of knowing exactly how bad things were this time was tearing him apart.

"You there, Jack?" Landry prodded when Jack failed to respond after several seconds.

"Yeah, I'm here… I just…" Jack stumbled over his words trying to figure out what he was supposed to do next. He once again felt overcome by feelings of helplessness. There were no bad guys to shoot, no gate to run too, nothing he could do to help Sam. There was also a small part of him that couldn't help but think that if he'd still been in command of SG-1 that there was something he could have done to stop this from happening. He knew that was unfair to Mitchell and that he was one hell of an officer, but nonetheless the thought kept crossing his mind.

"Why don't you come on out here, Jack? She'll be in surgery for a while and if you find an early enough flight you might make it out here in time to be there when she wakes up."

"If she wakes up you mean." Jack responded dejectedly.

"No… **when** she wakes up." Landry repeated forcefully. "She's strong, Jack, she'll be okay." Jack hoped to god Hank was right, because if he was wrong Jack knew one thing for certain; he would be anything but okay.

_SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1_

It took every ounce of Jack's self control to prevent himself from racing through the halls of the SGC on his way to the infirmary. As it was he settled for a brisk walk that nearly approached a jog several times before he was able to reign himself in. Upon finally reaching his destination Jack frantically glanced around for Dr. Lam, a nurse, or anyone that could point him in Sam's direction. Thankfully Carolyn spotted him before he was able to terrorize any of the staff too badly and began to steer him in the direction of Sam's room all the while attempting to assure him that the surgery had gone well and everything would be just fine.

As they passed through the doorway into the room where Sam was being kept Jack froze nearly in mid-step. It wasn't his first time seeing Sam in rough shape, but the sight of her still left him feeling that he'd been punched in the gut. She was deathly pale and surrounded by a myriad of IV's, heart monitors, and other medical gadgets that measured who knows what. She looked even worse than she had after her brush with Anubis's super soldier and that was saying something. The only time he had ever seen her this pale was after the incident with the computer entity. And that time she had actually been dead he thought with a grimace as he remembered the horror of having to zat her twice. The sight before him was a painful reminder of precisely why he hated hospitals and infirmaries. He always joked about being jabbed with large needles; but in reality he hated hospitals not because of the multiple times he had needed treatment himself, but because of all the times he had been forced to stand by and watch friends and loved ones fight for their lives. It was a fight that hadn't always been won.

"She's going to be okay, sir." Dr. Lam assured him once more as she busied herself checking Sam's vital signs. "It will probably be a few more hours until she wakes up, but you're welcome to stay with her. Do you need anything? Food? Drink? We can get something sent down from the commissary if you'd like."

"Ah… I'm fine." Jack mumbled as he slowly approached Sam's bedside and hovered nervously over her. She looked so weak he was almost afraid to touch her. He couldn't resist, however, and gently reached up to brush a stray piece of hair away from her eyes. Jack was pleased to find that as pale as she was her skin was warm beneath his fingers. The warmth and the steady rise and fall of her chest helped to solidify the fact that she was actually alive. Events had hit way too close to home, but somehow they had miraculously escaped tragedy once again. Jack leaned over Sam and gently placed a kiss on her forehead before settling down in the chair someone had already positioned near the bed and taking her hand in his.

_SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1_

Jack woke groggily several hours later to the feeling of fingers running through his short silver hair. He lifted his head with a groan as the stiff muscles in his neck protested the way he had been hunched forward resting his head on the side of Sam's hospital bed. He felt a wave of relief wash over him as he looked up at Sam and was greeted with a pair of tired blue eyes. He hadn't been dreaming; she was awake!

"Hi, sleepyhead." She greeted with a weak smile.

"Hi." He whispered in return capturing her hand in his once again and giving it a gentle squeeze. He was pleased to see that she didn't look quite as pale as she had before. "How are you feeling?"

"Not so great, but I think I'll live."

"You better." Jack stated earnestly feeling a lump beginning to form in the back of his throat as his emotions once again tried to get the best of him. "When Hank called I was terrified I was really going to lose you this time. The flight out here was the longest of my life. And I nearly created a scene when I got here. A two-star general nearly running through the SGC in jeans and a t-shirt is bound to kick the rumor mill into overdrive." He was doing his best to keep the mood light. Throughout the years humor had become SG-1's defense mechanism in rough times. If you kept yourself busy laughing, you just might be able to avoid breaking down altogether.

"Nearly running, huh? I may have to track down the security footage of that; might be useful for blackmail." Sam teased back. She knew the dance as well as he did. The tears and heartfelt discussions would come later, in private, but never here in the SGC; here they always felt the need to appear strong for everyone else.

Jack was about to respond with another quip of his own when he saw that Sam's eyes were starting to droop closed again. Their light bantering had already run down what little energy she had regained. He stood slightly and leaned over her brushing a light kiss over her lips.

"You should get some more sleep." He suggested in a whisper as he gently caressed her cheek before settling back into his chair.

"And so should you, General, and in an actual bed this time." Dr. Lam chastised as she entered the room. "I promise she'll still be here when you get back."

Jack started to protest, but taking in Dr. Lam's expression he knew it was a fight he wasn't going to win. He'd seen the same look many a time on another doctor's face.

"You're as bad as Janet." He groused as he allowed her to usher him out of the infirmary. Little did she know what a huge complement she had just received.

_SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1_

The next morning Jack entered the infirmary carrying a cup of blue jello and Sam's laptop. He wasn't sure if Dr. Lam would let her have either yet, but it was worth a shot. He knew Sam would go stir crazy if she was stuck in the infirmary for too long with nothing to do. Entering Sam's room Jack was greeted by a very welcome site. She was propped into a sitting position, sipping on water, and was already starting to look bored. Her eyes lit up when she spotted him walking through the doorway. He wanted to believe that she was just happy to see him, but had a sneaking suspicion her excitement had more to do with the items in his possession.

"I come bearing gifts!" He announced proudly. "Well, if Doc will let you keep them that is." He amended shooting Dr. Lam an apprehensive look as he noticed she had poked her head into the room to check on her patient. Although she gave the laptop a slight grimace she nodded in reluctant approval before continuing on to the next room.

"I knew there was a reason I kept you around." Sam teased. Jack chuckled in response. While Sam still seemed a little washed out, she looked ten times better than she had when she had first awoken. He felt like a giant bolder was being lifted off of his chest as he finally began to believe that she really would be fine.

"So which present do you want first?" Jack asked as he crossed over to her side and greeted her with a quick peck on the lips before glancing self consciously towards the doorway to see if anyone had seen. Even though there were no security cameras in the privacy of her room, and the fact that they were engaged not withstanding, it still felt odd being so open about their relationship in the SGC; especially now that the fear of losing Sam had diminished. All of his other visits to the SGC over the past year and a half had been official and they had been very careful to keep to strict military protocol. This was different, however, Jack decided. This time he was visiting as a worried fiancé, not as a Major General.

"Jello," Sam decided after briefly weighing both options, "although I'm glad you brought my laptop along. I need your help coming up with a new password."

"What's wrong with your old password?" Jack questioned.

"I, ah, told it to Cam when I thought I was going to die." She sheepishly admitted. She still hated how close she had been to giving up.

"Ah." Jack felt like he should say more, but he'd never been good with words and thankfully Sam never seemed to mind.

"So now I need a new one; any ideas?"

"Fishing." Jack suggested with a smug grin. It was perfect, who would ever expect Sam to have fishing for her password; maybe quark, or lepton, but certainly not fishing.

"There's one slight problem with fishing…" Sam started before Jack interrupted.

"How could there possibly be anything wrong with fishing; it's perfect!" He insisted with a pout.

"Fishing was the old password."

"Oh… really?" His smug grin suddenly returned and was even larger than when he had initially suggested fishing as a password.

"Yep." Sam confirmed grinning back at him.

"I see your dilemma now. It's hard to top fishing; after that everything else just seems pointless."

_SG-1 SG-1 SG-1 SG-1_

**A/N:** I hope you enjoyed it. Although I'm sure they would have had a serious conversation about Sam's injuries at some point I don't see it happening at the SGC so I decided to go with some humor. As always I'd love to hear what you think and bonus points for you if you know which episode I adapted the last line from.


	9. Chapter 8: Waiting

**Disclaimer:** Just borrowing them for a bit. I promise to give them back when I'm done (if I have to).

**Timing:** During the season 10 episode "The Road Not Taken"

**A/N**: Thanks once again for all of the lovely reviews! I had a tough time deciding what I wanted to do with this episode, but hopefully you'll enjoy what I came up with. Instead of focusing on the aftermath of Sam's time in the AU I wanted to focus on how Jack managed to survive two weeks of worrying. After all, that's what this series is about =).

**Chapter 8: Waiting**

**Day 1**

Jack was startled to see Sam's name on his caller ID as he retrieved his vibrating cell phone from his belt. It was rare for her to call him this early in the day. By his watch it was only mid-afternoon at the SGC.

"Hey there." He answered in a slightly puzzled voice. He was very curious as to what had prompted the call and was hoping that maybe they had found some new bit of information about Daniel.

"Hi handsome!" An overly exuberant voice that was definitely not Sam's responded.

"Vala…" Jack bit back a groan as he realized who it was. He still hadn't decided what to make of SG-1's newest member, although he greatly enjoyed watching her torment Daniel. Someone had to keep him on his toes now that he was stuck in DC. "Why exactly did you decide to call me on Sam's phone?"

"Well, I figured you wouldn't answer if I used mine, so I… borrowed hers."

"Borrowed, meaning stole."

"No, borrowed meaning borrowed. I plan to give it back once we find her so technically that's not stealing." Vala explained using a tone of voice similar to one used when speaking to a small child. Jack shook his head slightly at her antics before he realized exactly what she'd just said.

"What do you mean when you find her?"

"I was getting there, but you just had to insinuate that I would steal something from my own teammates. I mean what kind of …"

"Vala!" Jack interrupted trying to keep her ramblings on track. By the time Vala finally managed to get to the point nearly 10 minutes later Jack was resisting the urge to bang his head against the polished wooden surface of his desktop. Sam had somehow managed to disappear without a trace in the middle of a top secret military facility… for the second time.

**Day 2**

Jack nearly leapt out of his seat when his pocket started buzzing in the middle of his afternoon meeting. It took all of his self control to keep himself from snatching his phone out and answering it then and there. He normally left his phone in his office during meetings to save himself the embarrassment of having it go off on the one day he managed to forget to put it on vibrate. With Sam missing, however, he couldn't bear to be more than a few feet away. He was dying for news, any news from the SGC. Of course no one had bothered to call during the morning hours when Jack could have actually answered his phone. While Jack was stuck in his office attempting to focus on his many piles of paperwork the offending object had remained annoyingly quiet and now he got to spend the next hour on pins and needles wondering who had called and what news they may have had. Life wasn't fair.

When his meeting was finally over Jack quickly excused himself and practically raced out of the room fishing out his cell phone as he went. His heart fell as he saw the name on the caller ID. It was Cassie. Under normal circumstances he would be thrilled to hear from her, but today he just wanted some sort of word from the SGC; preferably a call from Sam herself. Talking to Cassie presented other problems as well. What was he going to tell her if she asked about Sam? Jack sighed as he reached his desk and sat down leaning forward to rest his forehead against the smooth wooden surface. Yep, life definitely wasn't fair.

**Day 3**

As Jack sat at his desk he sent his cell phone an angry glare as if it was at fault for once again not ringing all morning. His left hand periodically twitched towards the phone as he fought the urge to call the SGC himself. Deep down he knew that someone would update him as soon as they had anything new to report, but he was worried sick and getting very, very impatient. Waiting had never been one of his strong suits. Sending one more glare towards his phone Jack turned back to the requisition reports he was working on with a grimace. In times like this he hated paperwork even more than normal. At least if he were still going into the field he would have something to take his mind off of wondering what sort of horrible disaster had befallen Sam and if he would ever see her again. Paperwork left way too much time for his mind to wander.

Jack was startled when his phone actually did decide to ring. He looked at it in shock for a few seconds to be sure he wasn't imagining things before reaching out a shaky hand to see who was calling. Sam's name was flashing on the caller ID.

"Sam?" He exclaimed hopefully.

"Sadly no, she's still missing. We did have a great idea though!"

"For crying out loud, Vala! Don't you have your own phone?" Jack growled into the phone. Damn the woman for getting his hopes up like that.

"Yes, but Sam's is so much nicer. I think I may just have to… keep an eye on it for her until she gets back. Now, do you want to hear our idea or not?"

"Did you figure out how to get Sam back from wherever it is she went?" Jack questioned as he superstitiously crossed his fingers.

"Well, no; but…"

"Then no, not interested. Goodbye, Vala." With that Jack hung up the phone. He was not in the mood to deal with her antics.

Several minutes later his office phone rang. He wasn't expecting any calls, but only a few people knew the number for his direct line so he figured he should answer it. Jack just hoped it wasn't some idiotic politician. He wasn't sure he would be able to keep himself from biting someone's head off at the moment. Worry, frustration, and boredom were a very bad combination for his mood. And the two people who were normally able to calm him down were both missing.

"O'Neill."

"You really should listen to our plan, General. I think you'll like it." As Vala's voice came through the phone Jack found himself contemplating banging his forehead against his desk for the third time in as many days. He was beginning to sympathize with what Daniel had put up with for months.

"How did you even get this number?" He questioned in exasperation. His officially listed number was routed through his secretary to prevent this sort of thing from happening.

"It really was quite simple. You see all I had to do was…"

"Ack, never mind, forget I asked." Jack cut her off realizing he didn't need a half an hour explanation on the fine arts of computer hacking or whatever her method of choice had been.

"So you want to hear about the plan then?"

"Fine." Jack gave in with a sigh before mumbling a string of curse words under his breath.

"We're going to take shifts keeping Sam company!" Vala exclaimed proudly.

"She's missing… how do you expect to keep a missing person company?"

"Well, if she's out of phase, which we're pretty sure she is; Sam can hear us we just can't hear her. And she's got to be getting pretty bored stuck in another dimension alone. We thought you might like to take a shift. We can put you on speaker phone." She explained.

"As much as I hate to admit it, I do like that plan." Jack admitted grudgingly. It still wouldn't help his worrying very much though. There was no guarantee that she was actually there listening. Still it was better than nothing.

"Told you you'd like it!" Vala gloated.

**Day 8**

Each day that passed with no update on the fate or whereabouts of Sam Jack felt like he was one step closer to going completely and utterly insane. The waiting was bad enough, but in many ways that wasn't the worst part of it all. The unknown was the real killer. No one at the SGC had any clue what had happened to her. This left Jack with feelings of overwhelming worry for her safety, but at the same time he didn't have any idea exactly what he was worried about. Once again he felt helpless. His only consolation was that at least this time his helplessness didn't come from his position in Washington, D.C. There was nothing he could have done at the SGC either except get in the way. Some consolation Jack mused with a snort. He suddenly longed for the days of being trapped on wayward spaceships and being held prisoner by the Goa'uld and their lackeys. At least then he had had a clear idea of what to be worried about. Jack sighed; if he was wishing for Goa'uld maybe he really was going crazy.

He was interrupted from his reverie by a knock on his office door.

"What?" He yelled out in exasperation.

Captain Vance, one of his staff aides, entered the office with an expression you might expect to find on the face of someone about to be tossed into a lion's den. Jack was somewhat ashamed to notice that the kid looked just about as haggard as he felt. He knew he'd been taking his frustration out on his staff a bit, but he hadn't realized quite how badly. He had previously prided himself on being one of the more laid back flag officers stationed in the Pentagon. He wondered how many months it would take him to rebuild his image after the damage done in the past week.

"Sorry to interrupt, sir, but I wanted to remind you of your meeting at the White House this afternoon. A car will be by to pick us up at 14:00." Vance stuttered as he came to attention in front of Jack's desk.

"Thank you, Captain; but why don't you take the rest of the day off. I think I can make it through a simple meeting with the President without a babysitter. Dismissed." Jack replied forcing a smile onto his face. The young man had potential as an officer and the last thing he wanted to do was scare the poor kid straight out of the Air Force. Sam would kill him if she found out he had been terrorizing the junior officers while she was missing. If she ever made it back he reminded himself with a grimace as he watched Vance quickly exit his office.

Reaching out to his cell phone Jack checked the caller ID for the hundredth time that morning. Still no messages or missed calls. He wanted to throw the phone against the wall; would the waiting never end?

**Day 15**

Jack was beginning to feel like each day was passing him by without him really living it. He was merely going through the motions attempting to make it from sunrise to sunset but without really acknowledging the events of the day. He simply felt numb. It had been just over two weeks since Sam had disappeared from inside the SGC, and three weeks since he had actually held her in his arms. Despite all the time that had passed no one was any closer to knowing what the hell had actually happened. Jack was still glued to his cell phone and he checked for missed calls nearly obsessively after each meeting. However, even those actions were born more from habit than hope. As much as he desperately wanted news on Sam's situation he didn't expect to actually get a call. Even Vala, who had been a constant thorn in his side during the first few days of Sam's disappearance, had stopped calling nearly a week earlier.

It was for this reason that he nearly fell out of his desk chair when the silence of his office was suddenly pierced by the shrill ringing of his phone. When he saw that name on the caller ID his hands begin to tremble slightly. If anyone other than the rightful owner of the phone was on the line, a certain female alien was going to die Jack decided as he took a deep breath before answering.

"I swear if this is Vala I'm going to…" Jack started before being interrupted by the sweetest sound in the world.

"Hi, Jack." Sam greeted.

"Oh, thank god." Jack breathed a sigh of relief and let his eyes fall closed. She sounded exhausted, but it was definitely Sam. She was back!

**Day 19**

Jack was nearly bouncing in his seat with nervous energy as the plane he was on taxied towards the terminal at the Colorado Spring's airport. He had spent the last four days trying to figure out a way to escape from DC before the weekend without much success. Saturday had finally come, however, and he was bursting at the seams to see Sam. Luckily he had managed to snag a seat near the front of the plane (maybe there were some benefits to being a two star general) and he didn't have to wait long to disembark once the plane reached its final destination. Once again Jack found himself resisting the urge to race recklessly through a public place in order to reach his fiancé faster. Being head over heels in love seemed to be hazardous to his health… and his dignity.

Turning the corner into baggage claim Jack began to scan the area for any sign of Sam. He didn't see her anywhere and was beginning to wonder if the last several days had been some sort of twisted nightmare when a familiar pair of arms snaked around his waist from behind. Sneaky woman; he shouldn't have taught her to be so stealthy.

"I missed you." Sam whispered in his ear as she held him tight.

"You're evil," Jack chuckled turning in her arms so that he could see her face, "but I missed you too. More than you'll ever know." Jack pulled her tighter into his embrace and rested his face against the side of her neck, relishing the feel of her body pressed against his and being enveloped in the smell that was uniquely Sam. The waiting was finally over.


	10. Epilogue: Reflection

**Disclaimer:** Just borrowing them for a bit. I promise to give them back when I'm done (if I have to).

**Timing:** Post series, present day.

**A/N**: Well folks, I've covered all of the episodes that I planned to when I started working on this little series; which means this will be the last chapter. I hope all of you have enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. And thank you so much for your comments and alerts throughout the past month. Knowing what you think really means a lot to me. I don't always get a chance to reply to all of my reviewers, but I do want you to know that I read each and every review I get. And now for the conclusion!

**Epilogue: Reflection**

Lt General Jack O'Neill (Retired) couldn't help but smile as he watched the SGC's change of command ceremony discretely from the back of the room. His retirement had been made official several weeks earlier and recently promoted Lt General Hank Landry was taking over his position at the Pentagon leaving the SGC in need of a new CO. Jack couldn't think of anyone more suited to the post than the new Brigadier General that was soon to be introduced to the assembled crowd of scientists and airmen. Of course he was a little biased.

"Since I assume most of you are familiar with the history of this outstanding, and often mindboggling base I will also assume that the identity of my successor and your new commanding officer will come as no great surprise to you. If it wasn't for her hard work and her dedication not only to her country, but to the ideals and principles on which it was based; the universe we live in would be a much different place than we find it today. It is my great pleasure to present you with your new CO, Brigadier General Samantha O'Neill." As General Landry finished his speech the crowd erupted in applause.

Jack felt his smile grow larger as he proudly watched his wife enter the gateroom and proceed towards the podium, a bashful grin on her face. It was the first time she had been officially announced not only as a Brigadier General, but also as an O'Neill. Although they had been married since shortly before her posting to Atlantis, Sam had chosen to keep her maiden name while they were both on active duty. While their relationship was sanctioned by the Air Force, they both preferred to keep their marriage rather quiet. With Jack's retirement, however, Sam had decided she was ready to be Mrs. O'Neill in both the military and civilian worlds. While a part of Jack would always think of her as Carter, he had to admit that Samantha O'Neill had a very pleasant ring to it.

As Sam began giving her acceptance speech Jack allowed his mind to wander back to that fateful day over a decade earlier when a beautiful blonde Captain had challenged a grumpy old special ops Colonel to arm wrestle. It was amazing to think how far they had both come since those early days. Even more amazing was the fact that they had actually survived to reach this point; the odds certainly hadn't been in their favor more times than not. And the years hadn't been without their fair share of close calls either Jack reminded himself as he glanced at the two men standing beside him. Both he and Daniel had managed to literally escape death more than once, and Teal'c was the only witness to 50 years of life lived aboard the Odyssey. Sam herself had been in mortal danger so many times that he had lost count, and it was those events that had caused him to lose more sleep than he cared to think of.

After the defeat of the Ori, Jack had hoped that things in their little corner of the universe would calm down for a while. Sam had been promoted to Colonel and while she didn't return to Area 51 she once again became heavily involved in the research side of the SGC's work. She still traveled off world and he still worried about what trouble her doohickeys might cause (after all she did keep disappearing from inside the SGC), but all in all she was much safer than many other Air Force officers stationed in the more dangerous regions of Earth. His peace of mind had been short lived, however, as she was appointed commander of the Atlantis Expedition only a few months later. Jack had been incredibly proud of her for being assigned her first large command, but the year she was in the Pegasus Galaxy was the longest of his life. He had only thought living across the country made him feel helpless; living in a completely different galaxy was much, much worse. At least during the war with the Ori they could take comfort from each other during their precious few free weekends, but while she was on Atlantis the only comfort they were able to share came in the form of e-mails passed back and forth only a few times per week.

Sam's next assignment, her command of the Hammond, had seemed like a blessing at first; until they both realized that it meant she would report directly to him once again. Jack had initially been surprised that the Air Force would place them in such a position. After all there was a reason that certain regulations were in place to begin with. However, the U.S. government had apparently decided that since they were already married there wasn't much that could be done by anyone except grin and bear it. In the beginning Jack loved the new arrangement. Although Sam was gone a good bit of the time, when she was on Earth she was able to live with him in D.C.; and while frequent, her missions were generally short in duration. For the first few months of Sam's tour the galaxy remained fairly quiet and the Hammond's time was mostly spent ferrying supplies to research outposts and conducting humanitarian missions. Even though it had been over a year since the defeat of the Ori most of the trouble makers were still licking their wounds. Things started to heat up, however, when the Lucian Alliance began to rebuild its forces and started having delusions of grandeur. As the galaxy once again found itself torn apart by war Jack found himself in the unpleasant position of having to personally send Sam's ship on dangerous missions week after week. Each time he did every fiber of his being screamed in protest. He had breathed a sigh of relief when he first found out Sam was going to become the SGC's new CO. Not only did she deserve it, but it would mean an end to his constant worrying.

Jack was shaken from his reflections by the applause signaling the end of Sam's speech. Sam's eyes met his as she scanned the crowd assembled before her and he gave her a quick wink before she was surrounded by a group of well wishers offering their congratulations. As he had complained to Sam when they first discussed her return to SG-1, the events of the past six years had been anything but easy for him. But as tough as things had been, he and Sam had always managed to weather the storm together; working as a team just like SG-1 always had. The end result was well worth it Jack decided; and he knew he wouldn't change a thing if it meant risking the life he had now. He was married to the woman of his dreams, had finally managed to retire (for good this time), and for the moment had nothing more to worry about than whether or not Sam would finally let him get a dog. Yep, life was good.


End file.
